been
knocked flat also by the horse, his iron goad flying out of his hand and
into the street.

Though Frank was some distance away, he started toward the tiger, which
had crouched and seemed about to spring on Inza. But before he could
take a step, he saw Elsie run from the crowd toward Inza and the tiger.
Her face was very white, but it was filled with the look of high courage
which inspired her. She realized the peril of any attempt she could make
to save Inza, and she boldly took the risk.

A hundred voices were screaming at the big brute, which crouched with
undulating tail and open jaws; but not another person seemed to be
moving toward Elsie to render her assistance, with the exception of
Frank Merriwell.

He saw the girl pick up the iron goad. Then Elsie Bellwood leaped
between the tiger and Inza. As she did so she lifted the goad. The tiger
turned its attention from Inza to Elsie, and the latter struck at it, as
if the goad were a spear.

Frank Merriwell heard the click of a revolver at his side. He saw a man
shakily lifting it.

"Permit me!" he gasped, and plucked it from the man's hand.

The revolver went up, flashing for a moment in the sunshine. A quick,
sharp report rang out. The bullet, sent with true and steady aim, by the
hand of Frank Merriwell, ploughed through the tiger's brain, and the
beast flattened out convulsively, and began to kick and writhe in its
death agonies.

Hearing the report and seeing the animal fall, Elsie's uplifted hand
fell, she swayed like a wind-blown vine, and dropped heavily down across
the form of Inza Burrage.

CHAPTER VII.

FRIENDS.

The crack of the revolver and the fall of the tiger seemed to break the
spell that had held and made cowards of the throng. A dozen men leaped
toward the girls. But Merriwell reached them first. He lifted Elsie, who
had merely fallen in a faint, as he saw; and, passing her to a student
whom he recognized, he bent anxiously over Inza.

There was a bruise and a fleck of blood on the upper part of her face.

"Inza!" he said, lifting her tenderly and seeking to arouse her. "Are
you much hurt, Inza?"

The words and tone seemed to call her back from the land of death. She
moaned feebly, and tried to put up a hand. Half-lifting her in his arms,
he looked around.

"Is there a surgeon here!" he called.

Elsie came back to consciousness with a shiver, and heard him call. Her
face had been very white, but it became pale as dea